


Positive Reinforcement

by kisahawklin



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcshep_match, Drabble Sequence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-28
Updated: 2010-05-28
Packaged: 2017-10-11 11:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/111929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisahawklin/pseuds/kisahawklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John comes up with some incentives to get Rodney back in shape</p>
            </blockquote>





	Positive Reinforcement

"This," Rodney panted, "is not fun."

"Of course not, McKay, that's the idea," Sheppard said, slapping him on the back and making it _even harder_ to breathe.

"Oh, so you admit you're torturing me on purpose!"

When Rodney glanced over his shoulder at Sheppard, he was smirking.

"I knew you were a bastard, Sheppard, but I had no idea how low you would go."

"Keep moving," Sheppard said. "And take deeper breaths, it'll help."

"I can barely get air in my lungs–"

"Stop _talking_, Rodney, that'll make it easier too."

Rodney glared at the floor and breathed through his nose.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

You said this would be fun."

"I don't remember saying that," Sheppard said, nudging Rodney forward with his looming presence, right behind Rodney's shoulder. "I remember saying you were going to get in shape if I had to run behind you every step of the way."

"You promised me a reward!" Rodney squawked. Bad enough he'd gotten out of shape in his couple of years on Earth, worse that he was coming back to Atlantis unable to rejoin Sheppard's team because of it.

"You'll get it," Sheppard answered, "as long as you keep moving."

"Better be worth it," Rodney grumbled.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Worth it?" John asked. He had much more elaborate reward systems for the rest of Rodney's get-back-in-shape training plan, but this room was the key to them all.

"I'm not sure," Rodney answered, confusion written all over his face. "I don't know what I'm looking at here."

There were a couple of strangely-shaped chaise longues off to one side with little tables next to them and two consoles in the center of the room. One of the consoles had a stack of crystals on it.

"VE," John said finally, and Rodney's eyes lit up, just like John knew they would.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

"I'm not sure," Rodney said, and John patiently refrained from rolling his eyes.

"Come on, Rodney, it's perfectly safe - you looked at the code yourself." John tightened the cuffs around Rodney's ankles and checked the bungee cord one more time.

"But what if I'm injured? What if die in here?" Rodney babbled, sounding slightly hysterical. "Even if I don't have to save Atlantis every few days any more, the loss to the scientific community at large would be astronomical."

"You can't be injured in here," John repeated for the hundredth time, pushing Rodney off the edge of the platform.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Can't be injured in here," Rodney sneered, and John very carefully did not _punch him in the face_.

"I said _you_ can't be injured in here," John said, kicking Rodney's flappy hands away from his swollen ankle. "It's tied to your biometrics. Besides - it's not even sprained. I won't even feel it when I get out of here."

"Wait, what?" Rodney asked, and John grimaced, knowing he'd given himself away. "Why wouldn't you make yourself invulnerable too?"

"Not enough..." _time, space on the drive_ "...incentive."

"What!" Rodney yelled. "Since when is not dying in a VE not enough incentive?"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rodney was the smartest man in two galaxies, but even with every considerable brain cell concentrated on the problem, he couldn't come up with an explanation. Sure, he knew the social interaction brain cells were out of practice, but Sheppard wasn't a social animal, not really - that's why they got along so well.

"I won't die in here," Sheppard pouted.

"Okay, you won't die. But you can feel pain. Why is there not enough incentive not to feel pain?"

Sheppard glared, and Rodney had almost decided to drop the subject when it hit him like a ton of bricks.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

"What other scenarios have you programmed into this thing?" Rodney asked.

_Finally._

"Anything you want," John answered, hoping it was the truth. Rodney might have a few dirty little secrets of his own, but John'd tried to be as all-inclusive as possible.

"Why don't you show something you want," Rodney said, with more subtlety than John would have ever suspected he possessed.

John hesitated; he'd expected to draw Rodney out over months – the ink on Rodney's divorce papers was barely dry.

"I don't know," John started, but when he looked up, Rodney bowled him over like a ton of bricks.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Click here if you prefer to comment on LJ](http://kisahawklin.livejournal.com/82347.html?mode=reply)   
[Click here if you prefer to comment on DW](http://kisahawklin.dreamwidth.org/69515.html?mode=reply)


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